Dear Editor,

Leading up the 2016 General Election then Opposition Leader Andrew Holness promised that constitutional reform would be a major agenda item if elected. In the 2020 General Election he asked for more time to get things done. Now in 2023 a Constitutional Reform Committee has been established and I welcome that as a person who is keen on constitutional issues.

The recently announced 14-member committee is a good one, with the exception of a few appointments. The question I have is this: After being independent for 60 years, why can’t we form a committee without the inclusion of a foreigner? I don’t believe that someone who wasn’t born in Jamaica should be involved in the country’s constitutional issues. More specifically, Canadian Professor Richard Albert should not have been included on the constitutional committee. He can assist Jamaica on other issues but not on our constitution.

I know some folks will call me xenophobic for saying we should have only Jamaican-born members on the committee, but most countries would never allow a foreigner to sit on such a committee. To even sit in the Parliament of Jamaica you have to renounce your citizenship in another country and reside in the Jamaica for a specific period of time.

Even though I am a conservative, I care zero about the professor’s alleged bias towards the LGBTQ community and abortion because I’ve seen some Jamaican-born people on the committee who I believe are pro-abortion and pro-LGBTQ.

I recommend Professor Stephen Vasciannie to the constitutional committee as a replacement for the professor. He’s not only a legal expert and an educator but he’s well versed in international affairs. He was once Jamaica’s ambassador to the United States.

The main positive for Professor Vasciannie is that he was a member of the National Democratic Movement (NDM), a party that was known for its stance on the need for constitutional reform.

Professor Albert may become a distraction to the work of the committee if he remains.

Teddylee Gray

Ocho Rios, St Ann

teddylee.gray@gmail.com